Christmas Eve Snow

Hi, welcome back.

I'm certainly glad you could spend a little time with us today and do a fantastic little painting.

So, I tell you what, let's get started, have them run all the colors across the screen that you need to paint along with me.

And they'll come across in the same order as I have them on the palette, starting with the white, and working around.

Today, as you can plainly see, I have a black canvas up here, and I've just covered this with Black Gesso, allowed it to dry completely, and then, on top of that, I've added a mixture of Midnight Black and a little bit of Prussian Blue.

Not much Prussian Blue, just enough to give it a little bluish tint.

And I thought today we'd do a little mountain winter scene, something, let's just do it and see what happens, okay?

[chuckles] Start off with the old two inch brush today.

And go right into a small amount of Titanium White.

As I've mentioned before, these black canvases are fantastic if you want to, if you want to amaze friends and relatives, and et cetera.

Because they don't see you put the color on top of the black, and it's transparent, and then when you come in here, and you add a little bit of white, just all kinds of beautiful little things just happen.

And today, I just want to add a very small amount of the Titanium White, just to get the indication of a little color, here and there.

Don't want a lot of color today.

Just a little.

I'm going to put some clouds, I think, in here.

So all I'm looking for is just a little background color.

This is behind the clouds, we'll do that first.

Then we'll come in, we'll drop in a happy little cloud here and there.

Mmm, I like these black canvases because a little bit of color shows up so strong, and so beautiful.

It just, it's unreal what you can do with them.

Unreal.

You know, I get letters from people every day, and they send me photographs of the paintings that they're doing at home, and these black canvases, may be some of the favorites.

And these are from people that, a lot of them have never had, they've never even suspected they had any art talent, they've never had any lessons.

They just watch the shows, picked up ideas, got enough confidence, grabbed the old brush, and they're doing some beautiful paintings.

And you can, too, you really can.

Let's wash the brush.

Shake it off.

[chuckles] Beat the devil out of it.

All right.

Let's get us a one inch brush.

If we're going to have a happy little cloud, We'll just continue to use the Titanium White.

Just pull a little color into the bristles.

And we have to make our first major decision here.

Where does our little clouds live in our world?

Maybe, yep, you're right.

There he is.

I'm just using the top corner of the brush and just making tiny little circles.

Just tiny little circles.

Tiny little circles.

There you go.

Just sing along as you, as you're doing this.

Think about tiny little circles, there you go.

Okay, and blend it out.

Look at that.

Look how color stands out on this black canvas.

It's unreal!

It's unreal.

Maybe there's another little cloud.

He just floats around right here.

Wherever.

Wherever, there we are.

Mmm.

Okay, maybe, a little more of the color.

Maybe, yeah, you're right.

Let's have another cloud.

This'll give us a little bit of practice doing some happy little clouds.

They're a lot of fun.

A lot of fun, and they're very easy to do.

Very easy to do.

Maybe he comes right on, we don't know where it goes, here.

A little fluffer there.

Clouds are so free.

So free, they are just one of the free-est things in nature.

Maybe it comes out through here.

There.

That's the job I want in my next life.

I want to come back and be a cloud and just float around, have a good time all the time.

Okay, now, we'll take a large brush and I'm very gently, just beginning to blend the base of this, very lightly.

Just blend it, blend it, blend it.

Once again, color shows up so much stronger on the black canvases.

Much stronger than on a white canvas.

There we go, look at that.

Now, you can blend these until they're dead, so don't overdo it.

Just blend just enough to stir them up a little bit, mix them up.

There.

A little bit right in there.

[chuckles] Now, I beat the brush just to remove excess paint off of it.

So I don't have to clean it again.

Then I'm going to fluff them, lift them, tease them, pull them.

This is not a very firm pressure I'm applying now, just gentle, just gentle.

Just enough to grab it and move it a little bit.

Then very lightly, very lightly.

Look at that, look at that.

Boy, that's some fantastic little cloud.

Mmm.

Lookie there.

They stand out, once again, so strong from these black canvases.

This Black Gesso is one of the most fantastic things.

Years ago, I used to just use black house paint.

But, I've had some letters from people, and they wrote and told me that it didn't do too well.

[chuckles] So the Black Gesso is designed specifically for this.

Okay.

Let's build us a mountain.

Let's build us a mountain.

Today, I'm going to use just black.

Then, Van Dyke Brown, a little Prussian Blue, we'll throw some Alizarin Crimson in there, too.

What the heck?

Looking for a color that looks very dark, looks black.

Okay.

Cut off a little roll of paint, have it right on the edge of the knife.

Now then, you have to make a major decision.

Where does your mountain live in your world?

I think he's going to live over here.

So let's go right up in here, and let's just drop us in a nice, big mountain.

Nice big mountain.

I like to do mountains because it gives you, it gives you a lot of experience with a knife.

Once you learn how to do mountains with this knife, oh, it's your friend, you can do anything.

Maybe this comes over here and there's another peak that lives right there.

Wherever we want them.

There.

If you can do mountains with this knife, you can do just, you can do rocks and stones and roads and buildings.

In some of the past series, we've done entire paintings using nothing but the knife.

Absolutely nothing but the knife.

There.

We'll have to do some more of those type shows.

It's interesting to see what can be done just using a knife.

It's a little difficult because of the time restraints.

There we go.

Now I'm just using a two inch brush.

I just want to pull this down.

This is an excellent way of laying out highlights and shadows.

You can see those brush strokes in there.

Every stroke you make, it stands out.

And I hope you can see those on your TV set.

But you can lay out entire mountains, just using the brush strokes.

And you're not committed, you can change it repeatedly, literally hundreds of times.

But it teaches you how to make your mountain look the way you want it to look.

There.

So, you can just get carried away.

Make all kinds of beautiful effects.

Okay, let's put some snow on that mountain.

For that, I'm going to use Titanium White, and put a little bit of black with it, just to dull it down.

Just to dull it so it's not pure white.

Pull the paint out firmly, just really get in there and raise the devil with it.

And then cut us off that little roll of paint again.

You want that to be right on the edge of the knife.

Okay?

Now then, no pressure.

Just let it touch the canvas and graze.

All that's touching is that roll of paint.

It just grazes the canvas.

Graze it, caress it.

There.

Make good friends with it.

Look at that.

Let that paint break and work for you.

We have a very firm paint.

And it's designed specifically for this technique.

And it works so well.

But you need a very firm, dry paint.

It's most, most important.

Now you have to make some big decisions.

Where does these peaks live, are they in the background, in the foreground?

We'll put this one in the foreground.

Like so.

There we are.

Mmm.

Just let them go, wherever you want them.

Think about where the light would strike.

Okay, I'm going to take some white, use some Prussian Blue, Prussian Blue, some black.

Looking for a gray-blue color.

Sort of a grayish blue.

That's not bad, something like so.

Once again, our little roll of paint.

Now we can come back in here and we can begin laying in all kinds of little shadows.

Just follow the lay of the mountain here.

See, here comes one.

To me, looks like there's a valley right in there, so, just pull it, create that illusion.

Create the illusion.

There.

Now then, see that peak right there?

I want to push it back, watch here.

Watch here, you might've seen me do this before, but it's always fun, just come directly, distinctly through that, and it pushes that son-of-a-gun right on back.

And here, I want to leave that dark so it looks like our nice, recessed area.

Leave some dark in there at times.

There we go.

See, here's a nice one.

And there and there, there's one.

You can put the indication of shadows and it causes, like, little ridges and all kinds of beautiful little effects.

Very simply.

There we go, change that.

Let that go wherever you want it to.

But practice these mountains.

It will open whole new worlds for you once you learn to make friends with this knife.

Get a little more of the Titanium White with a touch of black in it.

Pull it out flat, once again, our little roll of paint.

I want to put a few highlights over here on this little mountain.

Mmm.

This reminds me of my home in Alaska.

Boy, God was having a good day when he made Alaska.

So beautiful.

If you've never been there, you ought to go see it while it's still wild.

You can see more creatures there in one day, mmm.

So beautiful.

My favorite uncle sent me there, Uncle Sam, you know, he asked me if I'd like to go up there for a while.

[chuckles] And if you don't go, you're going to jail.

You know how Uncle Sam ask you to go.

But I went up there and I fell in love with the crazy place.

It is so spectacular.

I was born and raised in Florida.

I didn't know that things like that even existed.

I had never dreamed of them.

There.

Mmm.

No pressure.

You want that paint to break.

It creates all of those beautiful little effects.

Just sort of bring that together right in there.

Make like a little valley lives in there.

Little mountain goat has to have a place to go hide.

Now then, we'll take, we'll take two inch brush and very lightly, we'll begin tapping, always following the angles in the mountain.

Now, I'm going to have snow down here, so it doesn't matter if we get a little paint down here.

We're going to cover it all up, so don't be worried about it.

Don't be worried about it.

Over here, we want to follow these angles.

Look at the angles in your mountain and follow them.

We want to create that illusion of mist.

Beat the brush to remove excess paint.

Now, maybe right in here, sometimes you can very gently, just blend things together here.

See, just blend them together.

It'll make it look like there's a little misty area laying right between those.

There.

We'll bring it right on down.

Now very lightly, two hairs and some air, grab that and lift upward.

Gently lift upward, upward, upward.

There.

Over here, follow these angles and lift it upward.

Now, you're just lifting right in here, you don't want to lift and destroy all of these.

Just diffuse the bottom of the mountain so it looks like it's sitting right there, right in the mist.

Okay, we can wash this old brush.

Give him a good scrub, shake him off.

Cover a couple cameramen, and we're in business.

We're in business.

All right.

Let's use this same old dark color here.

We had some black, some Prussian Blue, some Van Dyke Brown, Alizarin Crimson, doesn't matter, shoot.

There's some Dark Sienna, we can throw that in there.

Whatever you have.

Whatever.

Let me clean my knife.

Let's grab us a fan brush here.

There.

And I'm going to load it full of this dark color that we just made.

Full of color, lot of paint.

And back in here, back in here we're going to have some little evergreen trees that are far away.

Now, they'll stand out against that lighter mountain color.

Maybe they come down, there they go.

I don't want this just to be straight, so I'm going to have it go uphill here a little bit so we have some, we have some variation in our land.

Make it look a little more interesting if it goes every which way.

There.

Okay, maybe it comes right on up here, I don't know, wherever you want it.

Wherever you want it.

That helps push all those mountains back.

But you need that little misty area in between.

That little misty area is your separator.

It keeps, it keeps the mountains and the trees apart.

I'm going to put a little bit of that shadow color I had left here, and just lift upward to create the illusion of little, distant tree trunks.

I want this very subdued, very quiet, see.

Just shows up, good, that's all.

Now, if you get one that's too bright and you don't like it, all you have to do is continue to rub it, and it'll go away.

It'll go away.

There.

Now, maybe back here, shoot.

Let's have some fun.

Lot of paint.

Lot of paint.

Boy, what a messy brush I got there.

Look at that son-of-a-gun, I got paint all the way up to the ferrule.

That's okay.

Maybe back in here there lives a few trees that are closer to us, and they're big and they're strong.

There they are, see?

Now, if you have problems making your paint stick over this mountain, because there's a lot of paint back here, add some paint thinner to your dark.

I'm doing all right, right here today.

But, sometimes you have a little problem.

If that occurs, just add a little thinner, because a thin paint will stick on top of a thicker paint.

There.

And I do realize that happens sometimes.

People write and tell me that they're having some problems.

Usually, if you just add a little paint thinner, that'll cure it.

There.

You know, I've mentioned before, we travel all over the country, and we give painting demonstrations, and work with PBS stations, and other charity groups around the country to help them make a happy buck or two.

And if we get to your area, come see us.

Shoot, I'd love to have the opportunity to meet you and talk with you, I've met literally thousands of people.

It's fantastic, they bring photographs of their paintings in.

It's unreal what people are doing.

And if you'd like to know when I'm going to be in your area, drop me a line, just put your name and address on a card and send it to the address at the end of the station, they'll send it to me.

We maintain a little mailing list, and I'll try to drop you a card and let you know when we're going to be in your area.

Boy, we got a whole mess of trees going there.

Now then, just going to take a knife, just here and there.

I know those are hard to see, but there's little lines in there.

Shoot, we need to brighten this picture up.

I'll put some snow in it, that'll zing it.

Let me find a big brush.

Okay, let's get serious.

We'll go right into Titanium White.

Now, we have color on the canvas already, we have a blue and black mixture, so when we put color on...

I'm going to get a little of that shadow color, too.

When we put color on there, it's going to get a little darker than what we have on the brush.

And we're depending on that, okay?

Got to make a big decision, where's your snow live?

Let's say, [Bob makes "soom" sound] goes right, let's go uphill now.

Look at that, see?

Oh, I know, you're saying, "Bob, you've made a mess this time."

You may be right too.

[chuckles] I've certainly been known to do that.

There we go.

But we don't make mistakes, you know, we have happy accidents.

Very soon, very soon after you start painting in this method, you'll learn that there's nothing that goes wrong, you can correct anything that happens.

It's one of the things, when I was teaching classes continually, that's so good.

And if you're ever teaching, this will help you with students, is that, you show them that there are no mistakes.

You can fix everything that happens.

And that really helps, it gets you over some of that fear.

Boy, we have a lot of fear, we first touch a big old blank canvas.

But once you get over that, that's when you really, really begin to experience The Joy of Painting.

There.

See there, [chuckles] that quickly, boy, we got a whole snow bank in there.

Just like so.

Okay, where'd my brush go?

There it is.

Let's have an evergreen on the other side.

Same old color.

Same old color.

I'm really loading that brush full of color.

A lot of paint, both sides.

All right, maybe there's a tree that lives, in our world, yep, right there.

Right there, here he comes.

There he comes, just work back and forth, making the bristles bend downward.

As you work down a tree, get stronger and stronger, add more and more pressure.

Make them bend more.

It makes those little things that hang under the limbs.

Little, I call them hangy downs, for lack of a better word.

But they're always in evergreen trees, those little hangy down things.

There, see now, this one's closer to us.

And by putting trees in different places, that, once again, helps create that illusion of distance.

We'll have him a little friend, right there.

Okay, now then, we can reach up under here, grab some of that dark, and pull it down.

That creates our shadow under our tree, fixes the bottom of the tree, all in one stroke.

Now then, I'm going to take some white and a little bit of Phthalo Blue.

I like a Phthalo Blue, it's a brighter blue.

Nice, bright blue.

Okay, maybe there's a happy little path.

Need a little more blue, doesn't show up enough for you to see it well.

There, see?

Just a little path that lives right in there.

There he is.

That blue makes it cold.

But Phthalo Blue's quite warm, it's a nice blue.

And...

Here and there you can bring some little things down.

The fan brush, you can really get in there and smooth things out, and put little individual things, and blend them.

Just make all kinds of happy little things going on.

I tell you what, this is a nice place for a little building.

Let's have, maybe, right back here, against these trees, come right up here so we can.

I'm going to scrape out a basic shape, just take the knife, scrape out a basic idea of what it is that you want here.

Just scrape it out.

There we go, see?

Still not committed at that point.

All you're doing is just scraping it out.

Okay, take some white, let's put a roof on there.

Need a roof.

Now, here's a little trick.

See, you can come down that edge, get all your lines nice and straight, and then when you pull this down, then you'll have a beautiful straight edge.

Sneaky, huh?

There we go.

Now we need a little bit of snow on the other side of the roof, over here, just like that.

Get into some Van Dyke Brown.

There we are.

See, there, we're putting in, all we're doing is blocking in some color.

There.

Just blocking it in.

Now we'll take some Dark Sienna, and some white.

Very gently, very gently.

Just pull straight down.

Make us some nice boards there.

Add a little Van Dyke Brown to that and darken it down a little more.

There.

Now we can just whack off the bottom, get it the way we want it.

You know what?

Maybe, tell you what.

Let's go right up in here.

Excuse my arm, just a second.

Hope you can see that, I'm going to put some little things like that.

Then we go right up here on the top, put a little bit of white.

Maybe we'll just take and turn this into a little church that lives out here.

Put a little steeple right up there.

And it's all covered with snow, boy, it's really cold out here.

There, just snow laying all up around there.

Now, maybe, tell ya what, let's do this.

Maybe they're getting ready for a service and they've turned the lights on, here.

They've got the lights burning in the windows.

So let's just scrape out the indication of some happy little windows.

I'm going to take a little bit of Cad Yellow.

Just put in the indication of a little light coming through those windows.

There.

People are going to be arriving pretty soon.

Cold day.

Cold day, mmm.

Okay, back to my fan brush, here.

Now then, let's put some snow right up around the foot, here.

Like that.

Okay, maybe, tell you what.

Maybe right here, in the foreground, let's just put a little tree that lives right there.

There he is.

Give him a little friend or two.

I'm going to push up, just want to put a little something here that'll push everything back.

And that helps create that illusion of distance in your painting.

A little bit of shadow underneath.

Shoot, I think we about have a finished painting.

Hope this gives you some ideas, shows you what can be done on black canvas, hope you enjoy our little church in the snow.

From all of us here, happy painting, and God bless.

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